With First Four finished, here’s your top tournament teams, players, stats

In this season of parity, Peyton Siva and No. 1-overall seed Louisville hardly are a slam dunk for the NCAA Division I title. They play North Carolina A&T today.

James Crisp/Associated Press

In this season of parity, Peyton Siva and No. 1-overall seed Louisville hardly are a slam dunk for the NCAA Division I title. They play North Carolina A&T today.

The NCAA tournament will not have a repeat champion for the sixth consecutive season. Kentucky made sure of that by failing to make the field of 68.

Beyond that, nothing’s for certain in this year’s version of March Madness after a season of parity that saw the top teams swap positions like it was a hoedown.

The tournament got started Tuesday with the play-in games: North Carolina A&T won its first NCAA game in 10 tries over sub-.500 Liberty, and Saint Mary’s pulled away from Middle Tennessee.

Wednesday, even with leading scorer Rayshawn Goins suspended for a half, James Madison topped LIU Brooklyn 68-55.

Then, La Salle kept alive its first tournament berth in 21 years with a 80-71 win over Boise State.

The full madness starts today, when what’s expected to be a wilder-than-usual bracket gets rolling.

Here’s a few things to look for:

Top teams

Louisville: Coach Rick Pitino is one of the best minds in the game, Peyton Siva and Russ Smith are capable of taking over any game, Gorgui Dieng swats shots and grabs rebounds, and the Cardinals went to the Final Four a year ago. No wonder they’re the No. 1 overall seed.

Gonzaga: The Zags are big up front, love to play defense and have few weaknesses. After Final Four runs by Butler and VCU in recent years, top-ranked Gonzaga has a chance to become the first mid-major to win a title.

Indiana: Preseason No. 1 earned the East Region’s top seed despite losing the Big Ten title game. With size, talent and depth, the Hoosiers will be hard to bet against.

Kansas: Bill Self led the Jayhawks to the Final Four last season. He has them in position to make another run despite having an almost entirely different team.

Doug McDermott, Creighton: A leading candidate for player of the year, the rugged forward would be a sure bet for most relentless player.

Kelly Olynyk, Gonzaga: The long-haired, long-armed 7-footer from Canada is long on talent. He will have a highlight dunk or two, count on it.

Mason Plumlee, Duke: Had a superb regular season and was a big reason the Blue Devils survived Ryan Kelly’s injury.

Jeff Withey, Kansas: Shot-swatting 7-footer is a difference-maker at both ends.

Trey Burke, Michigan: Big Ten player of the year in the running for national player of the year.

Marshall Henderson, Ole Miss: The Mouth from the South can shoot to back up his trash talking.

Potential upsets

No. 11 Belmont over No, 6 Arizona: The Wildcats have struggled at times defending the perimeter. The Bruins are one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country. Get hot and Belmont could pull it off.

No. 11 Minnesota over No. 6 UCLA: The Gophers are athletic and likely would have given UCLA trouble before Bruins’ second-leading scorer, Jordan Adams, broke his right foot in the Pac-12 final.

No. 11 Saint Mary’s over No. 6 Memphis: The Tigers have failed to get out of the first round the past two tournaments. Saint Mary’s is scrappy and has a player who can get hot in Matthew Dellavedova.

No. 12 Oregon over No. 5 Oklahoma State: Oklahoma State isn’t particularly good from the perimeter, and Oregon has a scrappy defense. The Ducks also have a chip on their shoulder after winning the Pac-12 tournament and being dropped to a 12 seed.

Distances

The selection committee did quite a few teams favors this season by allowing them to play close to home.

Kansas has the shortest distance, needing a mere 40 miles to get from Lawrence to Kansas City, where it also has a strong fan base. Kansas State also gets to play at the Sprint Center, but it’s another 80 miles away.

The distance losers?

Syracuse in San Jose, which is about 2,800 miles, and San Diego State in Philadelphia, about 2,700 miles. We’re guessing they’ll fly for those trips.

Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynyk, the long-armed 7-footer from Canada, is long on talent. He will have a highlight dunk or two, count on it, when the Bulldogs play Southern University today at the NCAA tournament.

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press file photo

Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynyk, the long-armed 7-footer from Canada, is long on talent. He will have a highlight dunk or two, count on it, when the Bulldogs play Southern University today at the NCAA tournament.